The Acting Minister of Police, Firoz Cachalia, together with the deputy ministers of police, Dr Polly Boshielo and Cassel Mathale, met with SAPS management to get a briefing on challenges as well as progress made in the fight against gang-related crimes in Gauteng, at the JMPD headquarters in Sophiatown on November 10.

The National Commissioner of SAPS, General Fannie Masemola, led the briefing and was joined by senior leadership of the SAPS. The briefing was followed by a stakeholder engagement session involving leaders of communities who have been affected by gang violence in Westbury.

Read more: Sophiatown talks see Westbury community plead for real action on gang related crime

Ward 69 councillor Genevieve Smith stated that the crisis of gangsterism and violent crime in Westbury and surrounding communities is not merely a policing problem — it is a deep social and economic wound that has been left unattended for decades.

“For more than 30 years after apartheid, our communities have remained on the margins of economic opportunity. Despite the promises of transformation, many of our people continue to feel excluded from the benefits of democracy. “The result is a generation of young people who feel invisible — struggling to find jobs, excluded from higher education opportunities, and surrounded by an environment where crime becomes a survival mechanism rather than a choice.”

Cachalia said that the community was well represented. “We took a register of their names and contact details, and I want to maintain that contact. I hope that the community will build a community forum here. In the past, this community has produced great leaders, established strong organisations, faith-based sporting organisations, and so forth. We’re going to need those organisations to come on board,” he said.

“There is… I think, a trust gap. We have to bridge that trust gap because the community has a major role to play. Of course, where there are high levels of violence, and you’re dealing with organised crime, people are reluctant to come forward. They’re not prepared to testify in court, which makes it a little bit difficult to achieve convictions, but we have to fight this battle,” Cachalia said.

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“I was told today that the young, mainly young boys, are being recruited, and are between the ages of 13 and 19. They’re supposed to be in school, they’re supposed to be looking forward to a bright future, but unfortunately, these communities are in a position where they feel marginalised, they feel that their issues around poverty, lack of opportunity, and so forth, are not being properly addressed. But that’s a problem across the country, in all communities, although it’s difficult to make that case to specific communities,” he added.

“We want to make another effort at tackling this enduring problem. It’s, you know, two, three decades, it goes back many decades, but it is now taking on a very alarming character, because it involves the proliferation of guns. We’ve got to deal with that matter. I think the police have had a lot of success, but we still are not completely in control. And until we are, these guns are going to get into the wrong hands.”
He added that they are thinking of revisiting the drug master plan that was adopted many years ago to see how they can improve its implementation. “Because that is at the core of the devastation in our communities, the kind of drugs, like cocaine, that are coming into our communities, across our borders, perhaps.”

Cachalia confirmed the establishment of drug labs in the country, but also of foreign drug lords. “So we have to tackle this problem. And I indicated to the community that we’re in this for the long haul.”

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